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Associated Press

At a military facility outside Bangkok, a drill sergeant barks orders at a group of film students learning the hard way that creative license has its limits in Thailand.
“You are here to learn discipline,” the officer shouted. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir!” shouted back the group of 53 aspiring artists — boys with shaggy hair, girls with tattoos and yoga pants.

“Discipline means respecting the rules and regulations,” he told them. “If you misbehave, you must be punished.”
In military-ruled Thailand, this is how university hazing is handled. The offence: a video posted online that showed a half-dozen fully clothed freshman doing an erotic couples dance as upperclassmen cheered. Social media dubbed it a “love-making dance.” The punishment: three days of boot camp for a new type of disciplinary punishment known as “attitude adjustment.”
 The military junta that seized power over a year ago pioneered the idea of “attitude adjustment” as a technique to silence critics. The junta summons politicians and others who voice dissent to military bases where they are typically incarcerated several days, interrogated and made to “confess” to their transgressions and sign a contract to not repeat them — a practice that has been widely criticised by human rights groups.

 Now there are signs that the mentality of military rule is being applied to civilian issues — like college discipline.
 For the students from the film school of Bangkok’s Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, a three-day boot camp included reprimands, public humiliation and a grueling endurance test.
After a 2-hour bus drive northeast of the capital to the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, a 33-square-kilometer facility surrounded by mountains, the students’ cellphones were confiscated to ensure no outside communication and primarily to prevent more videos.

 The drill sergeant, Sergeant Major Kongsak Klaeiklang then led what he called an “ice-breaking” session that bore close resemblance to hazing: An overweight female student was singled out as a “hippopotamus” as others were told to “dance like hippos.” Team games ended with the losers ordered to “walk like elephants,” bent over in a human chain, clutching each other’s hands between legs.
 “The idea is to break them down. Break down their ego. Humiliate them. And then we build them back up,” Kongsak said, as soldiers led small groups on an arduous 5-kilometer jungle trek that included scaling rope ladders and balancing on swinging logs to cross a river.
 The boot camp incident sparked little public uproar in a country where the education system has always had a militaristic streak — public schools have mandatory uniforms, hair must be kept short and some teachers still wield bamboo canes to enforce discipline through secondary school. Problem teens in violent high-school gangs have been sent to boot camps in the past.

 But using the military to punish university hazing is a new approach, which commentators say sends a chilling message that the military is needed to solve society’s problems even at institutions of higher learning.
 The former army chief who led the coup, Prayuth Chan-ocha regularly lashes out at those who question his authority and warns the public to stop asking for elections, which he says won’t be held until 2017.
 Hundreds of politicians, journalists, professors and other critics have been hauled in for “attitude adjustment” in the name of maintaining peace and order.

 Social commentator Sanitsuda Ekachai called it a sign of the times that the rector of a university chose to resort to military-style “attitude adjustment.”
 “When someone in his position believes that militarism is the answer ... it explains why the military still retains a strong grip on society,” Sanitsuda wrote in a column for The Bangkok Post. In a separate column, she wrote that educators who rely on military discipline are sending a stifling message: “Those who resist will be punished. The country is heading full force toward being a military state.”



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‘Break down their ego, humiliate them’: How discipline is dished out to bad college students in military-ruled Thailand

The students are made to crawl on their stomachs through muddy jungle paths as part of an endurance test designed to "break down their ego (and) humiliate them".  Photo: AP

A soldier lights a trail of fire that students are ordered to hurdle during their endurance test. Photo: AP

The students are ordered to run through the muddy jungle as part of a grueling endurance test. Photo: AP

There are signs that the mentality of military rule is creeping into civilian issues - like college discipline. Photo: AP

The group of 53 film students are ordered to line up with hands on each others shoulders.  Photo: AP

A drill sergeant at Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy leads an "ice-breaking" session.  Photo: AP

The students are ordered to say a prayer of thanks for their food and then eat in silence.  Photo: AP

Attitude adjustment: the methods used by Thai junta to silence its critics

Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk flashes a V-sign as he stands with his mouth taped outside a military base in Bangkok where he had been summoned by the junta. Photo: AFP

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has been cracking down on dissent in the country. Photo: Reuters

Thai journalist for English-language Nation newspaper detained by junta for ‘attitude adjustment’

Pravit Rojanaphruk has written critical commentaries in The Nation and frequently posts his opinions on Twitter. Photo: AFP


Thailand’s premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha has threatened to  prosecute anyone who criticised him or his government. Photo: Xinhua

Facing jail for sedition, Thai student protesters refuse to back down

Supporters hold pictures of the detained students as they take part in a protest in Bangkok in July. Photo: AFP

Ousted former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Photo: Reuters

14 students in Thailand arrested after holding anti-junta demonstration

 A Thai pro-democracy activist flashes the three-finger salute of the Thai military coup opponents and holds a photo of an arrest in a past demonstration during a rally in front of a police station in Bangkok. Photo: EPA

Policemen look on as supporters of anti-coup activists gather outside a police station, where the activists were being held. Photo: AFP

Thai junta under fire for children’s film featuring Hitler, Nazi symbol

The 'Twelve Values' video has since been taken down from the internet. Photo: YouTube

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